Stephen A.’s takeaways from KD’s trade 👀 ‘The Rockets could be championship contenders’ | First Take

Stephen A.’s takeaways from KD’s trade 👀 ‘The Rockets could be championship contenders’ | First Take

the Suns have agreed on a blockbuster trade sending Kevin Durant to the Rockets for Jaylen Green Dylan Brooks the number 10 pick in this year’s draft in the five second round picks sources told ESPN on Sunday durant was on stage Sunday at Fanatics Fest as the Jav Center in New York when the news of the trade agreement broke shocking fans in attendance kd on the move anything can happen at Fanatics Fest like me getting traded but being a part of the Houston Rockets I’m looking forward to it crazy crazy last couple weeks but I’m glad it’s over with and you knew before right i had an idea but I didn’t know when exactly when it was going to happen you know when people could just hang your career in the balance like that and just choose what they want to do with your career is a nerve-wracking feeling but being able to uh kind of uh dictate what you want to do and then being with a team that values you and I’m looking forward to it did you have a hand in this most definitely how much i mean they asked me where I wanted to go some of my destinations I gave them to them and here we are how dangerous are the Rockets going to be now won 50 plus games last year played a great season and but all this stuff take time and work and effort and execution so we’ll see what happens all right great job by my girl K adams there all right uh Chenn’s in the building great to have you how do How do we feel about the new studio oh your way around you’re good good that’s what we like uh Stephen what’s your biggest takeaway from this blockbuster KD trade he’s a Houston rocket well first of all I’m ecstatic for Eime Udoka he wanted this to happen that’s why this happened because I can tell you that Tieleman Fertitta and others had their reservations uh but Eay did not and he wanted this and so they believe in him they believe in his vision uh and they were going to do what they what what he wanted them to do and he wanted KD that’s number one number two I think this elevates them to championship contention to easily one of the final fours in the Western Conference if not the entire NBA wouldn’t surprise me at all if they were in the Western Conference Finals uh to keep Van Vleet obviously Ammon Thompson who’s a future star in this league wasn’t going anywhere shagon wasn’t going anywhere um Jabari Smith still being there you kept your assets i would have loved for them to keep Dylan Brooks because I think that the pest and the troublemaker that he is you’re KD you need a guy i think a guy like that is great for you because he doesn’t mind being the bad guy and stealing some of that attention away from KD which KD would welcome but I think ultimately what this comes down to is us being reminded of the greatness of the player that just got traded this is a dude that’s in his mid30s whose numbers are better in his 30s than they were in his 20s and in his 20s he was averaging 27 on 48% shooting and 35 plus percent shooting from three-point range and his numbers in his 30s are better that’s who the hell KD is and the one thing we looked at Houston in terms of what they were lacking was a number one offensive option when everything falls apart get his person the ball and move the hell out the way well they got it now his name is Kevin Durant and he is no joke the Houston Rockets I’m telling you right now they are instant title contenders no argument for me you guys yeah I’m from the age baby it’s a good day to be from the age okay before you mentioned numbers and you know I’m the numbers girl because men lie women occasionally lie numbers don’t right so yeah you heard me correctly occasionally occasionally thank you appear before I get to the numbers something that is unreal but go ahead we gonna get one word to describe this it’s trill do you know what trill is you like barbecue you like text you like Nigerian food you like jolaf you like a goosey we’re going to Houston pack your bags we’re going to Houston next year because we’re now box office we’re box office okay i I was really excited about what they did this year but adding KD to me is is everything now I know the five second rounders might give some people cause for pause the number 10 pick might give people cause for second round no I know but I was like “Oh my gosh you gave up so much.” I was like “No actually actually.” Yeah I agree i agree um the numbers to me that matter you talk about a few things and I went and crunched them he shot 49% on jumpers last year best in the NBA do you know where the Rockets were in that category 22nd seventh 27th 53 oh yeah um 22nd in half court offense gotcha 53% on mid-range the Rockets were 24th in that category if there is one player perfectly tailored to address fix heal all of the Rockets needs a team that would starve for offense in the postseason their defense is already championship caliber we always have found that in you know teams that are top two and both offense and defense have a great shot of winning an NBA championship defense is already there it’s their offense that they had questions about and the crazy thing is I’m glad we’re not worried about the second rounders and the picks and I know Dylan Brooks and Jaylen Green that’s really tough because they have a lot of potential and upside but overall you retained Alprin Shenun Jabari Smith Jr Reed Shepard who a lot of people thought would be attractive my favorite player you know how everyone has like favorite players my Amen Thompson that’s my favorite one one of my favorite he’s my favorite on Houston he is special you protect that and I think the Ema Udoka factor is huge as well he had some synergy from the Brooklyn Nets stays knowing KD and I do think when you lose Dylan Brooks you still have Emma Udoka’s identity that defensive mindset that holds you accountable i mean one thing that I that made me a little uncomfortable at times it’s almost like he coaches so hard like he’s playing so he’ll go out there and he’ll talk to other team star players to back his team up that is that dog mentality that stays with the team even though a couple players have parted so for Houston we don’t have a problem actually we’re the opposite of a problem so last summer the Rockets made it a very interesting trade a trade we’ve never seen before they traded some of the picks that they owned from the Nets back to Brooklyn which cleared the way for them to tank which they did this year they got the eighth pick and they got picks that the of the Suns they got three two two picks in a swap and as soon as that happened people said “I think they’re trying to get Kevin Durant.” And all year long the Rockets said “Not really we’re not you know we love Kevin Durant but he’s in his mid-30s we got this team in the 20s we’re not we’re not really going for him and some people thought oh it’s because they really want Devin Booker i believed I believed Rafel Stone when he said this by the way he said this publicly he said it privately too he said it publicly because I believed that he wanted to have his young team grow but something happened the last few weeks one you’re dead on eudoka who had him in Brooklyn Rael Ivy’s on the staff he was his teammate at Texas he wanted him he went to ownership and said and in front office and said “Can we get Kevin Durant to round and get him?” The other thing was they couldn’t say no to the price the price was just so low they just couldn’t say no it’s meant to say “Look what they still have on their roster.” So they now have optionality they can say “Let’s keep letting N Thompson develop let’s keep letting Jabari Smith.” By the way Tari E tar Een they love Tar Een there he could be the guy who replaces Dylan Brooks as that key defender so now they can get Kevin Durant get themselves better and still have these pieces that they can keep or trade so the Rockets had this happen because Kevin Durant controlled this process last winter the Warriors were ready to trade for him and he said “I don’t want to go there.” And they backed off last week the Timberwolves were on the verge of trading for him i don’t want to go there i don’t want to go there and Ed Edwards and Aunt Edwards could have tried to talk him into it he did not said “This not my place KD you do what you do.” And so the the price came down the Rockets moved in that’s how you elevate yourself as a team you buy you buy low and you have a great opportunity i will say this a couple of things number one I agree with Ant-Man’s perspective on this if somebody don’t want to be there you can’t be trying to compel them to be there because it’s a long season it’s a lot of sacrifice and if you ain’t happy where you at then you’re just inviting misery so I applaud and man for taking that position he wasn’t wrong number one number two when you look at Jay you know Jaylen Green we’re not going to insult him but I’ll be dead if I’m not going to throw shade had that man showed up in the postseason against the Golden State Warriors and played better this wouldn’t have happened jaylen Green showed you he ain’t ready and the rest of the Houston Rockets showed you they very well may be when you look at Van Vleet this is a champion when you look at Aman Thompson that brother as young as he is only in his second year plays like a champion you see the dog in that brother he ain’t he ain’t running from anything that brother shows up shagon can ball now draymond Green ain’t somebody that’s easy to play against now you understand what I’m saying but they showed up and Ema Udoka I consider to be one of the top five coaches in basketball i I I just think he’s phenomenal i really really believe in this brother you had to do that because if you’re the Houston Rockets if you don’t make a deal like this then you’re relying on Jaylen Green now Jaylen Green just so you know in case he’s watching my brother you got talent we all know you’re young your athleticism is off the charts etc you got to work on developing a consistent jumper you too streaky but in five of the seven games the brothers scored in single digits that is unacceptable now something along the way now I’m not getting into people’s personal because I’m not implying anything i’m just simply saying when you see somebody’s game and it’s predicated on athleticism and there’s almost no growth no development it does make you wonder what the hell are you doing when you ain’t playing the game one of them 82 nights are you working on your game do you understand that this is a job and a responsibility there are a lot of people in Houston and in the NBA that look at Jaylen Green and rave about his talent but they say his focus needs to get better so my point is you can’t afford to have that kind of question mark if you’re the Houston Rockets now cuz you’re not developing you believe you’re here you believe you can beat OKC you could beat Dallas you could beat Minnesota you could beat Golden State you took them seven games you believe you can take them and Kevin Durant erases that question mark ain’t about belief and wonderment it’s about oh hell yeah we expect now cuz KD’s in town that is why you did this one thing I want to point out KD is in the last year of his contract let’s see what happens contractually with Houston they’re going to give him two years two years 120 plus million they gonna give it to him they’re going to give it to him look at me they’re going to offer it to him now I ain’t telling you what he gonna do because Lord knows we don’t want to tell KD anything we want to make sure KD understand i mean if you talk if you said Kevin Durant if you said Kevin Durant and then you said Kevin Durant junior or senior or something like that he be like “How you know?” You know I’m saying so that’s how he would do it so no no we not going to say anything but I will tell you this they’re going to offer him that money because Fred Van Vleet he can they can make him a free agent it’s a team option they got to make sure I take care of him you got to You’re going to get Kevin D you got to make sure Fred Van Lee’s taken care of you got these young guys you got to pay so the Rockets have to keep an eye on that stephen A you were just listing a couple of contenders in the West and I immediately I I thought of cinema can you imagine obviously the Rockets finished second without KD now you had someone who the last three seasons with Phoenix 27 points per game 40% shooting from three now you have him as a member of the Rockets maybe going up against the Oklahoma City Thunder i mean like the West is super interesting super compelling and I do think that top four I’m not gonna say like people said “Oh are they the favorites?” Absolutely not i don’t like to you know ordain someone before we see them play yeah but the Rockets definitely got better in the West oh yeah they went and we have to go i’ll leave you with this their title odds went from eighth in the West to second shortest odds tied with the Cavs only behind OKC according to ESPN Bet Sports come

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Brian Windhorst and Chiney Ogwumike react to the Houston Rockets acquiring Kevin Durant in a blockbuster trade with the Phoenix Suns.

0:00 Stephen A.‘s reaction to the Suns’ trade of Kevin Durant
3:30 Chiney’s thoughts on the KD trade
6:50 Brian Windhorst on what this trade means for the Rockets
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